Morrisons Free From Raspberry Macaroon Slices - 155g

Packet cake is the quiet backbone of British tea time. The box in the cupboard for when someone pops round, the slice cut for a lunchbox, the one you have standing at the counter while the kettle boils. Supermarket slices like these sit right in the middle of all that.

Own-brand cakes from a British supermarket do not tend to cross the Atlantic unless someone packs them in a suitcase, and the suitcase usually has other priorities. So people search for the exact box they remember, by name, and are a little surprised when it turns up.

It is a small box of ready-cut slices, so there is no knife, no plate required (a plate is still polite). Keep it in a cool, dry cupboard and close it up properly once it is open. Then it sits there and waits for the afternoon you need it.

Most people pair it with a box of proper British tea, which is the whole point. Some add a few more cakes and biscuits from the shelf and call it a well-stocked cupboard.